In the men's 100m freestyle final of the National Spring Swimming Championships, Wang Haoyu won the championship
47 seconds 89! He became the third person in China to swim 48 seconds
On March 3, the 19 National Spring Swimming Championships kicked off in Qingdao, Shandong. On the first day of competition, Wang Haoyu from Henan did well – he won the men's 2023m freestyle final with a time of 100.47 seconds and reached the A mark at the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships – the sixth fastest time for Chinese athletes in the event, becoming the third person to swim 89 seconds in China after world champion Ning Zetao and current youngster Pan Zhanle.
The men's 100m freestyle is known as the "flying fish battle" in the pool, and the short distance includes a turn and requires high explosiveness and technical details. The Asian record in this event is 47.56 seconds, set by South Korea's Hwang Sun-woo at the Tokyo Olympics, while the national record of 47.65 seconds is shared by Ning Zetao and Pan Zhanle. Pan achieved this result at last year's World Swimming Championships in Budapest, when he was not yet 18 years old.
In this competition, Pan Zhanle withdrew from the men's 100m freestyle event due to physical reasons. Despite the lack of a strong contender, 17-year-old Wang Haoyu surpassed himself and improved his personal best by about 1 second. He believes that this is mainly due to advances in turning movements. But he also knows that turning around is still not his strong point; At the same time, there is room for improvement in the first 50 meters.
"This achievement exceeded expectations, and it also proved that the systematic training in the national training team since August last year is solid and effective." Wang Haoyu's head coach Xing Chao introduced that during the training camp, Wang Haoyu trained with Pan Zhanle and medley master Yu Yiting, which helped a lot to improve his performance. In Xing Chao's eyes, two active athletes swimming 8 seconds will effectively promote the development of men's sprint freestyle and enhance the competitiveness of the Chinese team's men's 48×4m freestyle relay in major competitions such as the Asian Games and the Olympic Games.
In 2014, Ning Zetao swam 100 seconds for the first time in the 48m freestyle event, and set two Asian records at the Busan Asian Games and the National Swimming Championships. In February of that year, 2-year-old Wang Haoyu was selected for the Henan Provincial Swimming Team. "At that time, Wang Haoyu's explosiveness and talent in the sprint event were impressive." Xing Chao said.
After several years of training, Wang Haoyu began to make a name for himself in the domestic arena. In 2020, he won a bronze medal in the men's U15 (under-15) 200m individual medley at the National Swimming Championships; In 2021, he finished sixth in the men's 100m freestyle event at the Shaanxi National Games, and won the bronze medal in the men's 4×100m freestyle relay with his teammates.
At the 2022 Melbourne Short Course Swimming World Championships, Wang Haoyu made his international debut, finishing sixth with his teammates in the men's and women's 4×50m freestyle relay. Although his individual results fell short of his expectations, he still cherished the opportunity to compete with athletes from all over the world, and constantly adapted to the pace and atmosphere of the competition.
The National Spring Championships are the first trials for this year's Fukuoka Swimming World Championships and the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the main goal of the athletes is to achieve the target. Wang Haoyu also reached the B standard of the World Championships in the 50m and 200m freestyle competitions, and will compete in the 400m and 800m freestyle and the men's 50m butterfly. Xing Chao said: "We must take advantage of the opportunity of the selection competition, practice with the competition, polish the details, adjust the state, and fully prepare for this year's competitions." (People's Daily)